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Another year, another power bill increase

Georgia Power announced Monday morning it will seek a 6.1 percent rate increase for 2014. Residential customers would see their bills increase by $7.84 per 1,000-killowatts used, the utility estimates.

The increase, if approved, would be the fourth in four years. Georgia Power bumped bills by 10 percent in 2011, 2.6 percent in 2012 and 1.2 percent this year.

The utility justifies the increase by citing its infrastructure needs – Georgia Power recently updated its downtown power network, replacing equipments and conduits dating back a century – and by comparing its rates to those of its peers.

According to the Georgia Power press release, “Over the past 26 years, the company’s total retail rate has averaged more than 13 percent below the national average. Since 1990, its base price has increased by 23 percent, compared to a 76 percent increase for general inflation. In fact, the company’s total retail rate, which includes base rate and fuel costs, has lagged the rate of inflation for the same time period.”

Just an educated guess here, but that’s probably because utilities elsewhere got to work on their upgrades sooner. Plus, the peer comparisons are little consolation to those Georgians paying the bills each month.

What I hope to see is a flattening of the rates, particularly as more and more cheap natural gas is used in power generation, and an eventual rate cut once the Plant Vogtle nuclear reactors come online. As much as we’ve paid for those silos on the front end, the utility would do well to give us something back on the flip side.